Last year’s Whitehorse Women’s Basketball League suffered from a lack of players and fizzled out midseason with no team crowned champion. However, with a total of 32 players split among four teams the league looks stronger than it has for years.
“It was kind of unfortunate,” said league president Diedre Davidson, speaking of last year’s failed season. “But now we have solid eight-player teams so (attendance) won’t be a problem.”
Using a draft at the start of the season, organizers hoped to construct evenly balanced rosters among the teams. With three games having been played by each team, and a three-way tie for first, it looks as if the organizers are right on track.
But if a team starts to look too strong or weak, some shifting of players between teams may be conducted.
“We look at the draft and try to balance them,” said Lareina Twardochleb, a past president of the league.
“This is the first set of games we’ve had with these teams, so they still might reset them if they’re really out of whack. But so far it’s good.”
Each team plays two games a week, meeting every Thursday evening at Vanier Catholic Secondary School and Sunday evenings at FH Collins.
Chalets dethrone Kweens
Had the Kopper Kweens taken Sunday’s game against Airport Chalet, they would have been the only squad to defeat every other team in each of their first encounters. However, things didn’t work out as such.
Jumping out to a 14-6 lead in the first five minutes of play, the Chalets kept possession of the lead for the remainder of the game en route to a 56-42 win over the Kweens.
Not without their moments, the Kweens looked like a threat to the Chalets at the end of the first and the start of the second, keeping the Kweens scoreless for three minutes of play and shrinking an eight point lead to four.
“I think that’s it, it was just a gap,” said Chalets’ Sarah Crane, who scored 14 points. “I think we were working really hard, saw that we were up and were like, ‘Oh good.’ So then we realized that we were losing our lead and had to put it on again.
“We just took a little break.”
Despite the temporary loss of momentum, the Kweens took their four-point lead and expanded it to 14 in the last 15 minutes of play, producing more turnovers than a pastry shop in apple season.
“Shots not going in the net and a lot of turnovers,” said Kweens’ Alcina Banks, when asked what was not working for her team. “They were good defensively, but it was just one of those games where we were having trouble passing the ball.
“Hopefully it’s just this game.”
“I think we’re good at anticipating (passes), and we’re kind of long,” explained Crane.
Chalets’ Corrine McKay led her team with 16 points, followed by Megan Freese with 14. For the Kweens, Michelle Massie sunk 18 points worth while Banks found the hole for 10.
Feature Foods
winless after three
A 44-31 loss to Takhini Gas Sunday means three in a row for Feature Foods, as they struggle to find their footing and pick up a win.
“We get a new team every year, so this is the first year we’ve been playing together as a team,” said Foods’ Davidson. “So we’re just starting to iron out all the kinks and figure out how each other plays.”
Takhini Gas grew a healthy lead early in the first and held it until the end of the half, ending with a score of 26-18. However, Foods had a hot streak to start off the second, moving back within four points, but then again trailed off.
“I think it was close for a lot of the game, but then we spread towards the end (of both halves) because of some good shooting by Marie and Natalie, so that kept us ahead of it,” said Gas’ Twardochleb.
“It didn’t feel like they were dominating by any stretch,” said Davidson. “We just couldn’t drop anything…
“A lot of our shooting is off, and how we move on the floor is not quite there yet,” added Davidson. “We’re starting to understand that we’re taking good shots, just nothing is falling for us.”
Feature Foods came their closest to a win in their previous game, losing 39-38 to Kopper Kweens Thursday.
“By the end of the league most teams will even out and I’m sure we’ll come up with a win in no time,” said Davidson.
Marie Cairns and Nathalie Gionet led the charge for the Gas with 14 and 11 points. Angella Ell topped the score sheet for Feature Foods with nine.